Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the potential cost of the apprenticeship levy to small primary schools in England in the first year of its operation.

Small primary schools will be liable for the apprenticeship levy, at 0.5% of their pay bill, if their staff are employed by a body whose total pay bill is over £3m. That will apply to community and voluntary controlled schools, where staff are employed by the local authority, and to many multi academy trusts.

The apprenticeship levy will support schools to train up and develop existing as well as new staff, an integral part of this government’s wider plans to improve productivity and provide opportunities for people of all backgrounds and all ages to enter the workplace. We encourage all schools to employ or designate apprentices, whether or not they pay the apprenticeship levy. Where schools do not pay the levy, or have exhausted the funds in their levy pot, they can put in 10% of the costs of apprentices’ training, and the government will provide the remaining 90%.